Fluoride Content of Various Processed Beverages

Fluoride Action Network | August 2012

When fluoride is added to public water supplies, it does not just go into the water, it goes all into all of the food products made with that water (e.g., soda, juice, beer, cereal, soup, etc). As a result, people living in non-fluoridated communities of heavily fluoridated countries like the U.S. will routinely be exposed to fluoridated water when they purchase processed drinks and beverages. The mass fluoridation of water supplies thus results in the mass fluoridation of processed drinks and foods and drinks.

The following data comes from published studies investigating the fluoride content of various processed beverages.

Juice:

“In this study, the authors analyzed 532 juices and juice drinks for fluoride. Fluoride ion concentrations ranged from 0.02 to 2.80 parts per million, in part because of variations in fluoride concentrations of water used in production. Children’s ingestion of fluoride from juices and juice-flavored drinks can be substantial and a factor in the development of fluorosis. . . . Our data suggest that young children who regularly or frequently drink substantial quantities of [juice] possibly should not receive dietary fluoride supplements, since they might be at increased risk of developing dental fluorosis.”
SOURCE: Kiritsy MC, et al. (1996). Assessing fluoride concentrations of juices and juice-flavored drinks. Journal of the American Dental Association 127(7):895-902.

“In this study, forty-three ready-to-drink fruit juices were examined for fluoride ion concentration. It was found that 42% of the samples had more than 1 ppm of fluoride.”
SOURCE: Stannard JG, et al. (1991). Fluoride levels and fluoride contamination of fruit juices. Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry 16(1):38-40.

Soda:

“Seventy-one percent of the [sodas] had fluoride levels exceeding 0.60 ppm, which is considered to contain sufficient fluoride so that dietary fluoride supplements are contraindicated.”
SOURCE: Heilman JR, et al. (1999). Assessing fluoride levels of carbonated soft drinks. Journal of the American Dental Association 130(11):1593-9.

“Schulz (1976) found that nearly all soft drinks then manufactured in optimally fluoridated Baltimore (1.10 ppm) had fluoride concentrations of 0.8 ppm or greater. Shannon (1977) tested soft drinks manufactured in Houston, Texas… He found that fluoride concentrations… closely matched the fluoride concentrations of the bottling plants’ water supplies. This conclusion was also reached in other studies, including the authors’ published and unpublished analyses of fluoride concentrations in 332 soft drink products.”
SOURCE: Warren JJ, Levy SM. (1999). Systemic fluoride: Sources, amounts, and effects of ingestion. Dental Clinics of North America 43: 695-711.

“Generally, the fluoride content of the majority of carbonated soft drinks was close to 1.0 ppm.”
SOURCE: Pang D, et al. (1992). Fluoride intake from beverage consumption in a sample of North Carolina children. Journal of Dental Research 71: 1382-1388.

Cereals:

“[F]ood processing often concentrates fluoride, and foods processed with fluoridated water typically have higher fluoride concentrations than foods processed with non-fluoridated water… A study that found marked differences between cereals processed in fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas showed that cereals processed in a fluoridated area had fluoride concentrations ranging from 3.8 ppm to 6.3 ppm…”
SOURCE: Warren JJ, Levy SM. (2003). Current and future role of fluoride in nutrition. Dental Clinics of North America 47: 225-43.

“[D]uring manufacturing, infant dry cereals are processed in a slurry and placed in a revolving drying drum. The water from the slurry evaporates, and the fluoride from the water remains in the cereal. Thus, the fluoride concentration of the water used during processing can substantially affect the final fluoride concentration… Infants who eat large quantities of dry infant cereals reconstituted with fluoridated water could ingest substantial quantities of fluoride from this source.”
SOURCE: Heilman JR, et al. (1997). Fluoride concentrations of infant foods. Journal of the American Dental Association 128(7):857-63.

“Soda pop and beer bottled with fluoridated water contain 0.7 to 1 ppm fluoride; consumption of these beverages is almost certainly more variable among individuals than consumption of water… If beer contains 0.7 ppm fluoride, heavy beer-drinkers may ingest more than 4 mg daily from beer alone.”
SOURCE: Groth, E. (1973), Two Issues of Science and Public Policy: Air Pollution Control in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Fluoridation of Community Water Supplies. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, May 1973.